Steve Schimmrich is a geologist and community college professor in a rural area of the mid-Hudson Valley of New York. All of the opinions expressed here are strictly his own. Sometimes he gets cranky and uses bad words.

Monday, December 20, 2010

This poll by Gallup has been done a number of times since 1982 (click to enlarge or click on the Gallup link).

Bottom line is that 4 in 10 Americans believe God created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden a few thousand years ago. Gallup doesn't ask, but I presume many, if not most of these respondents also believe in a young-Earth. In other words, they completely reject virtually all of modern science - once you throw a young-Earth in there, geology and astronomy are also out along with biology. In addition, to support a young-Earth creationist (YEC) model, chemistry and physics don't work either (e.g. the superfast plate tectonic model of some YECs or the "vapor canopy" model for flood waters is complete nonsense according to rather simple thermodynamics).

The way YECs explain things is much like the cartoon below.

I guess one could say there's good news in that 40% is the lowest it's been in decades. It is rather sad, however, that 4 in 10 Americans believe scientists are liars engaged in a global conspiracy. It's a good thing science is not decided by popular vote.

1 comment:

It's not only sad but utterly disgraceful, too. Having just moved into the American South, I'm surrounded by fervent religiosity, especially at this time of the year. It's mildly uncomfortable. In fact, I was blessed by a customer the other day in the middle of Best Buy. It was very odd considering all I had done was inform him about a camera.

I realize your post isn't exactly in opposition to religion as a whole as much as it is in opposition to the ignorance that religion breeds. But my goodness, it is statistics like this one that really makes me shake my head at every crucifix I see hanging around the necks of nearly everyone I pass by.